Bruins goalie is healthy, doesn’t know postseason rotation plan

BOSTON — The regular season wasn’t over long before Linus Ullmark was asked if he knew who was starting Game 1 of the playoffs for the Bruins.

At the time he didn’t even know that Boston was playing Toronto yet.

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It’s going to be that kind of week. Who will start Game 1? Game 2? Will the Bruins ride either Ullmark or Jeremy Swayman or both? Rotation or hot hand? The questions will keep coming. The answers figure to be scarce.

Jim Montgomery has said he was leaning toward continuing his goalie rotation that he’s used all season, but hasn’t 100 percent committed to it.

Asked before Tuesday’s game if he’d made any decisions yet, the normally chatty coach was direct.

“Nope.”

Asked will there be an answer before Saturday morning?

“Probably not,” Montgomery said laughing.

Ullmark said he doesn’t know what’s happening either.

“No, we haven’t had any conversations whatsoever,” he said. “I just played a game there against Ottawa. That’s all I know.”

Ullmark has had practice steering clear of subjects he doesn’t know or want to discuss. He still isn’t revealing whether he had an injury that caused his play to drop off in the playoff last year. The Bruins goalie adamantly refused to talk about it or make that excuse a year ago when his postseason performance paled in comparison to his regular season.

But after Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Ottawa, he said liked the way he felt heading into the playoffs. The Bruins will face Toronto in a best-of-seven first-round series that is expected to begin in Saturday.

“I feel great. So thanks for asking,” he said.

Pushed on whether he’d had a groin ailment last year. He deflected.

“I don’t know what, groin or whatever, he said. “But this year I feel great.”

He said he had one step left to take.

“I just gotta shave off my mustache to feel even better,” he said.